Of course, Republicans dominate Kansas. They hold all the statewide offices and control both houses of the Legislature.

Meantime, Kansas Democrats have just elected a younger, and more progressive chairman, John Gibson. Gibson’s a lawyer who was raised on a farm in Missouri, went to MIT, and settled in the countryside northeast of Topeka.

In an interview at the Washington Days convention, where he was elected chairman, Gibson says Kansas Democrats are on a better trajectory than the party nationally and, maybe, on a roll.

In deep-red Kansas, state Democrats threw their most energized annual meeting in years in Topeka on Saturday, largely thanks to the featured speaker: Vermont senator and former presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Democrats and Libertarians from Kansas' 4th Congressional District will each have nominating conventions Saturday to select their nominees for the special election to replace Mike Pompeo, who was picked to be the president's new director of the CIA.

Former Republican Congressman Todd Tiahrt is among several people who have expressed interest in replacing U.S. congressional Rep. Mike Pompeo, who has been appointed as the next CIA director in the Trump administration, pending Senate approval.

Kansas’ two main political parties are hoping voters work their way down the entire ballot on Nov. 8.

The Kansas Democratic Party has started a social media campaign called “Finish the Ballot" where they're encouraging voters to consider more races than just the one at the top of the ticket: the race for president.

Field and political director Cheyenne Davis says it’s often those down-ballot races that have the most impact on voters’ daily lives.